Is there any way to ship packages overseas cheaply these days?

Factual Questions
1

Much to my surprise, I found out that a couple of years ago the US postal service discontinued its service of shipping parcels overseas by surface mail. It would take a couple of months to get there, but it was cheap. (maybe like $50 for a box of books)

But now I’m finding that everything is airmail and costing a couple of hundred dollars at a minimum.

So is there any way to ship one-off packages out of the US for cheap these days? Courier service or buying a small space within a shipping container, or what?

2

Subbing to this thread, I’d love to know. There seems to be nothing affordable between a letter and a shipping container.

3

Keep your package weight under 4 pounds and you can use first class mail parcel, this costs less than $20 to many countries.

4

Only if you use those little boxes. I sent something to Ireland in December and it cost $40 for a box of toys and such that was under 4 pounds. It was one of those as much as you can boxes and when I was told it would be the same if it was 4 pounds or 20 I took it home and stuffed more stuff into it.

5

That’s the Priority Mail International Flat Rate service. First Class Mail International is a cheaper service up to 4 pounds. It’s their most economical way to send letters and small packages internationally. It’s very slow and there’s no tracking or delivery confirmation available.

6

FYI - 4 pounds to Ireland on First Class Mail International would be $31.40. Two pounds would be $17.64.

7

FWIW, our online art business has been looking for the cheapest + reliable international shipping option for several years, and the best we’ve found is Priority Mail International or Express Mail International. Our business has the dilemma of having to use 25-inch long tubes. I think a 2-pound tube shipped to the UK via EMI costs about $35.

I’d love to find something cheaper (but reliable), because there is a great interest in our products internationally, but I don’t blame customers not wanting to pay $35 shipping on a $10 print.

8

The Airmail M-Bags are probably still the cheapest way to go if you’re shipping printed matter only to one overseas address.

9

So how do all those ebay sellers in Hong Kong and China ship things to an individual address here in the US so cheaply?

10

By paying Hong Kong and Chinese postal rates instead of US ones?

11

I went to the post office this week for stamps. I noticed they ship using FedEx now.

12

It goes both ways – some USPS shipments go by FedEx (at least part way), and some FedEx shipments go by USPS (at least part way). They have worked out a very nice partnership.

13

Yeah, the USPS rates are high. I paid about $43 to send a small package to Singapore and the value of the contents was less than $10.

But you can send a large box (approx. 20"x20"x20" with no weight limit) from Chicago to the Philippines for about $75 through one of the local shipping services. Check the phone book or a Filipino newspaper for details. They are called “Balikbayang Boxes” and they are shipped by ocean freighter. Might take a month or so but anything nonperishiable is okay. And when the box is delivered they take a photo of the recipient receiving the box and send it to you so you know it arrived safely. It is a very popular sevice in the Filipino community and if something similar is not available to other countries I see an opportunity waiting to be captured.

15

Reported as spam.

17

Reported

18

The answer is NO, there isn’t. The price-fixed parcel companies are now, essentially, running the equivalent of a transportation monopoly in which all airline seats are first class, and the bus lines have been discontinued.

19

A 2kg tube from UK to USA would cost £13.80 with the Post Office. I expect that there are cheaper ways for us too. Of course it is all pretty competetive here.